08.19.19 One Step at a Time

Now that I am mostly done traveling, I am determined to spend more time in the studio - but not just making pieces to fill the Esty shop - I want to work to improve and expand my skill set.  At the top of that list is working with gold.

After having some successes adding granules to pendants (both in my kinetics class with De, and on my own), I had a pretty epic fail.

Combining gold with argentium silver in a single piece is complex process because the two metals have different specific gravities and fusing/melting points. 

In my first attempt to solder a 14K bezel to an argentium back plate, the differences between the metals got the best of me, and the gold actually sank through the silver (good thing Rio Grande recycles scrap metal). I learned some things - which was good - and I will come back to it.  However, for the time being I've decided to focus my work with gold on things that are a little less complicated.

Two things I'd never done before were create a step bezel for a faceted stone or create prongs out of wire (I did create prongs for a faceted stone in a wax class - but that's a completely different process).


I had recently acquired a great faceted turquoise, but because it was not a cabochon, I couldn't make a flat setting, so I built a step bezel.

A step bezel has two pieces of bezel wire - one inside the other - to create a cushion or "step" to created a seat for the pavilion (the pointed underside of a faceted stone).  I made two oval bezels, and then soldered them both to the back plate.




Since the stone didn't have a flat back, it wasn't really suited to a cut out on the pendant; so I went more of a hollow form look that would echo my two tone kinetic earrings.  Instead of gold granules, I chose make prongs using the same 18K gold wire that I used for the earrings.

To solder the prongs on to the bezel, I secured the setting in Kate Wolf soldering clay, used a third arm to hold the prong in place, and worked carefully to avoid melting the small gold wire.




With several deep breaths, and De at my side, I successfully soldered all three prongs on without melting any of them - and then used the same process (clay and a third arm) to solder a jump ring for the bail to the top of the pendant.


The rest of the process was very similar to finishing any other bezel set pendant - except that I used a prong pusher in addition to a regular bezel setting tool.


I'm pleased with the outcome, and the pendant looks great with my hollow form earrings.  However, since pierced backs are kind of my design signature, I'm going to stick to working primarily with flat backed stones.

It's nice to have a couple of options - prongs and granules - for adding small amounts of gold to my pieces, and I imagine that I will get more comfortable with the process as I do more.

Until next time.